About

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A few people were wondering... the nozzles shipping with the extruders will have the upgraded geometry like the Makerbot MK8 nozzles for improved extrusion.

***We are already producing some of the components so we have a head start...we plan to begin shipping soon after the campaign completion (first in first out)***

We wanted to thank everyone that came out to see our extruders and 3D printer/mill (coming soon) in person at the Maker Faire - San Mateo 2012!

A Dual Extruder That Everyone Can Afford!

Yes that's right, my two friends and I have quit our day jobs and jumped
head first into forming our own indie, open source 3D printer company. Our infrastructure is already set up and running.

Before I go any further I want to say upfront that we are 100% for
contributing to the community as a whole. We want to be as Open-Source
as possible with our ideas. We will be releasing dimensioned drawings
in .PDF format before the end of our campaign in addition to a variety of 3D formats, so everyone, even those
without expensive design software can read the files. Also we will have
COMPLETE drawings that are not missing details, material specs or the
like. What we create internally will be available externally, in full.

Every product we sell will be available as individual components. I
hope that being able to buy a single part of an extruder or 3D printer
will help spur innovation. Also if you already have some of the parts,
there is no need to buy them a second time

We hope that our first product to be released, will help lower the
overall price of all the 3D printers available by offering an extremely
high quality extruder at a price point lower than everything else on the
market. We want to get 3D printers into as many people's hands as
possible and we can't think of a better way to do it than by reducing
the upfront cost without sacrificing quality. Essentially what we did is take Makerbot's
open-source design and improve reliability by replacing the hobbed gear
with a 20 tooth spur gear (ala Makergear) with a groove machined into it
which centers the filament along the axis of movement; this majorly
cuts down on any slipping or stripping.

Extruded Filament After Being Driven | Notice the Grip!

We also changed the 'plunger'
to allow for much smoother engagement and precision during adjustment. The extruder is also ready to go for
dual-extrusion for those that want to experiment, you would just need to
get two of them instead of one! All the parts of the extruder are CNC
machined in house at our mini machine shop.

We need your help to make this a reality. By buying materials and components in larger volumes we are able to reduce overall costs which we can pass on. In order to get the extruders at this price point we have to buy A LOT of raw material at once. We already have a warehouse space, CNC mill, CNC lathe, tooling and everything else we need to machine these extruders. Your pledges will be going to pay for billet aluminum, other raw materials and stepper motors not our infrastructure. Below are pictures of our CNC machines and tooling we will be using for manufacturing the various extruder parts.

Our Haas SL-30 CNC Lathe

Our Mori Seiki MV50 CNC Mill

Tooling, Fixtures and Jaws for the Mill and Lathe

Project Timeline:

Step 1: Identify and test all the open source extruders on the market. We bought all the readily available extruders, took them apart, tinkered and hacked!

COMPLETED!

Step 2: Take the strengths of the best ones and mash them together into a prototype unit.

COMPLETED!

Step 3: Refine the prototype by modifying some parts to improve performance and reliability.

COMPLETED!

Step 4: Make a small production run of the final design and test, test, test!!!

COMPLETED!

Step 5: Launch a campaign to raise funds for the volume purchase of raw materials to keep costs low and pass them on...THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN!

In process...

You are essentially pre-ordering our extruder. We already have established material supply chains and everything except for the anodizing is done in house. We do not have to rely on third parties to manufacture these extruders.

$14 Pledge: A 12v/40w stainless steel heater cartridge. The heater cartridge is used in place of more traditional power resistors or nichrome wire to heat the hot end of the plastic extruder. It allows a very clean looking installation and can reach VERY high temperatures safely. This can be used to power most hot ends from various manufacturers.

Mounting
You will receive your choice of a stainless steel Makerbot Replicator compatible mount or our universal mount which will allow it to be mounted to many popular 3D printers.

$34 Pledge: You will receive one of the BASIC SINGLE EXTRUDER KITS. This includes the extruder AND the hot end as well as a power resistor heating element and a 100k thermistor to measure temperature. A torquey NEMA 17 stepper motor required but NOT INCLUDED.

$46 Pledge: You will receive one of the BASIC SINGLE EXTRUDER KITS. This includes the extruder AND the hot end as well as a HEATER CARTRIDGE heating element and a 100k thermistor to measure temperature. NEMA 17 stepper motor required but NOT INCLUDED.

$49 Pledge: You will receive one of the BASIC SINGLE EXTRUDER KITS. This includes the extruder AND the hot end as well as a power resistor heating element and a 100k thermistor to measure temperature. A torquey NEMA 17 stepper motor is INCLUDED. Unfortunately due to the weight, international customers, please add $7.00 for shipping.

$61 Pledge: You will receive one of the BASIC SINGLE EXTRUDER KITS. This includes the extruder AND the hot end as well as a HEATER CARTRIDGE heating element and a 100k thermistor to measure temperature. A torquey NEMA 17 stepper motor is INCLUDED. Unfortunately due to the weight, international customers, please add $7.00 for shipping.

$68 Pledge: For those of you that want to try DUAL EXTRUSION this is it! You will receive TWO of the BASIC SINGLE EXTRUDER KITS that are mounted side by side on the included mounting plate for DUAL EXTRUSION. This includes the TWO extruders AND TWO hot ends as well as TWO power resistors as heating elements and TWO 100k thermistors to measure temperature. Your choice of a stainless steel Makerbot Replicator Mount OR stainless'Universal' mount will be included to mount the extruders side by side in one package. TWO NEMA 17 stepper motors are required but NOT INCLUDED.

$96 Pledge: For those of you that want to try DUAL EXTRUSION with HEATER CARTRIDGES this is it! You will receive TWO
of the BASIC SINGLE EXTRUDER KITS that are mounted side by side on the
included mounting plate for DUAL EXTRUSION. This includes the TWO extruders AND TWO hot ends as well as TWOHEATER CARTRIDGES as heating elements and TWO 100k thermistors to measure
temperature. Your choice of a stainless steel Makerbot Replicator
Mount OR stainless 'Universal' mount will be included to mount the
extruders side by side in one package. TWO NEMA 17 stepper motors are required but NOT INCLUDED.

$98 Pledge: For those of you that want to try DUAL EXTRUSION and want to buy the motors from us, this is it! You will receive TWO of the BASIC SINGLE EXTRUDER KITS that are mounted side by side on the included mounting plate for DUAL EXTRUSION. This includes the TWO extruders AND TWO hot ends as well as TWO power resistors as heating elements and TWO 100k thermistors to measure temperature. Your choice of a stainless steel Makerbot Replicator Mount OR stainless 'Universal' mount will be included to mount the extruders side by side in one package. TWO torquey NEMA 17 stepper motors are INCLUDED. Unfortunately due to the weight of not one, but two motors, international customers, please add $12.00 for shipping.

$129 Pledge: The ultimate package for DUAL EXTRUSION!

FULLY ASSEMBLED!!!

You will receive TWO of the Fully Assembled SINGLE EXTRUDERS that are mounted side by side on the included mounting plate for DUAL EXTRUSION. This includes the TWO extruders AND TWO hot ends as well as TWO HEATER CARTRIDGES as heating elements and TWO 100k thermistors to measure temperature. Your choice of a stainless steel Makerbot Replicator Mount OR stainless steel 'Universal' mount will be included to mount the extruders side by side in one package. TWO torquey NEMA 17 stepper motors are INCLUDED. Unfortunately due to the weight of not one, but two motors, international customers, please add $12.00 for shipping.

Thanks for taking the time to look at our campaign. If you like it, pass the link on to your friends, family, co-workers and pets, we would really appreciate it!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 68 or more
About US$ 68

Two Extruder kits to mount at the same time...that's right, DUAL EXTRUSION!!! Includes two of everything except for the mount (you just need one!). Just add two of your own NEMA 17 motors and get to printing in two colors or materials at the same time!